Stress Myths: The Made-Up Problems, Checked One By One

We keep a list of stress myths, and it's gotten kinda long. A video says a puffy face, a soft middle or waking up at 3am all come from one hidden cause, and millions of us nod along. We get why. The stress is real. The diagnosis in the video usually isn't, and a lot of the time there's a product for sale right under it.

How we check stress myths

We check every myth on this page the same way. First we write down exactly what the video claims. Then we read what doctors and major news outlets have said about it, and we only print what they say. We don't add a theory of our own on top. That would just be one more myth.

Some of these are silly, like waiting an hour for coffee, and we have fun with those. Others ask people to pay for a test kit, a supplement or a thirty day plan. We don't joke around on those ones, because people lose real money on them and sometimes put off seeing a doctor.

We're not doctors, and nothing here is a diagnosis. When a real medical condition is behind a trend, we name it and say who to see.

The symptom checklist

This is the most shared one right now. Tired in the morning, wired at night, puffy, craving salt. Tick four boxes and the caption says it's high cortisol. Slate ran a piece by a writer whose own body doesn't make the stress hormone at all, and she counted more than 800 million views on videos tagged #CortisolTok.

The condition those videos borrow from is real. It's called Cushing's syndrome, it's serious, and it's rare. Roughly 40 to 70 people in a million have it, according to the Cleveland Clinic figures Slate cites. The signs doctors look for aren't "tired and wired" either. The Cleveland Clinic lists wide purple stretch marks on the belly, a fatty pad between the shoulder blades, and weakness in the upper arms and thighs.

The endocrinologists TIME interviewed said nobody can tell this by how they feel. It takes clinic tests to find. We went through the popular lists line by line in our piece on high cortisol.

The belly that stress gets blamed for

The cortisol belly video says stress fat collects around the middle and only a thirty day reset will get rid of it.

TIME is fair about this one. The real condition does add weight around the middle. For everyone else, one of the endocrinologists it spoke to said the stress hormone is very rarely the only cause. Sleep, medication, menopause, genes, how much we move and how much we eat all play a part. Academics writing in The Conversation were more direct. Bodies don't change as fast as those before and after photos show, and the "secret" is most likely marketing and exaggeration.

Our longer piece explains why the cortisol belly isn't where stress goes.

The home test kit

People pay for these, so we'll stick to the facts. Saliva kits, urine strips and hair tests are sold on the idea that one sample can show whether the stress hormone is out of range.

The experts TIME spoke to weren't convinced. The number changes all day, with sleep, medication and whatever happened that morning, so one reading at a random hour says very little. A real workup is a series of tests a doctor orders, sometimes including a small steroid dose to see how the body responds. And a normal result from a home kit doesn't rule out a real problem.

In the same Slate piece, an NYU endocrinologist describes more and more patients asking to be tested, some of them worried by home saliva results that were all over the place. PBS NewsHour gave the simplest advice: talk to a doctor before ordering a cortisol test. Our full piece on the cortisol test kits sold online covers what they measure and what they can't.

Coffee before breakfast

Plenty of videos say that coffee on an empty stomach causes a cortisol spike, and that we should wait an hour or two before the first cup. Waiting an hour for coffee makes for a looooong morning.

An endocrinologist at UNSW, writing in The Conversation, says healthy people don't need to worry about these rises. Going up during a workout, a deadline or a cold is normal. The biggest rise of the day happens every morning anyway. A review in the journal Stress found saliva readings in healthy adults go up by 50 to 160 percent in the first thirty minutes after waking.

What doctors actually look for is a reading that stays high all day, for a long time. That's something a doctor checks, not a smartwatch. The same article points out that watch stress scores are worked out from the pulse, and they don't test anything in the blood. More on what people mean by a cortisol spike, and why the morning one is completely normal.

Two quick ones: the face and the tired glands

Cortisol face first. PolitiFact calls it an internet term, not a medical term, and says everyday stress is very unlikely to change the shape of anyone's face. The Guardian quotes an NYU Langone endocrinologist saying the same. A face that really does get rounder can be a sign of Cushing's syndrome. It happens slowly, over months, and it's something to show a doctor.

Then there's adrenal fatigue, the idea that stress slowly wears out the adrenal glands. The Endocrine Society says there's no scientific proof it's a real medical condition, and no test can detect it. Its bigger concern is that people who believe they have it may not get checked for the real reason they're exhausted. We went through the tests and supplements sold for it in our piece on adrenal fatigue.

Where Flewd fits in

None of this means the stress isn't real. A jaw that won't unclench or scrolling at 1am is real, and it's normal to wanna know what's going on. We're Flewd, and we make stresscare bath soaks for nights just like those, when the day's done and we're still wound up. Every pouch is formulated with concentrated magnesium chloride, nootropics, aminos and vitamins.

Every myth on this page sells a shortcut: a checklist, a home test, a 30 day reset. The study we come back to is one we can all try at home. Researchers in Japan had 38 adults take a 10 minute bath at about 40°C (104°F) every day for two weeks, and shower for another two. On a 0 to 100 scale, people rated their stress and tiredness lower after the bath weeks. No kit and no test, just a warm bath every evening.

Our customers have told us something similar over the years. Of more than 3,000 we surveyed across three years, 79% said they felt calmer three or more days after a bath.*

For a first try, our stresscare night at home covers the whole evening, with a soak of as little as 15 minutes or as long as we like.

*Survey of 3,000+ Flewd customers over 3 years. Individual results may vary.

Questions we get asked

Are stress myths harmless?

The silly ones mostly are. The ones that sell something, like home kits, supplements and thirty day plans, cost money and can delay a real diagnosis. That's why we don't joke around on those ones.

Is the condition behind the checklists real?

Yes. Cushing's syndrome is real, rare and serious, and doctors diagnose it with a series of clinic tests. If a symptom is worrying, book a doctor's appointment before buying any kit.

Can a bad week make us look puffy and feel wired?

Definitely. Short sleep and salty dinners can show up in the mirror, and PolitiFact lists a salty diet among the everyday reasons for a puffy face. What doctors disagree with is the idea that one hidden cause is behind it all, and that a video can diagnose it.

Where do new stress myths come from?

Mostly short videos, and the products sold alongside them. Slate found a $184 weighted pillow and a $1,000 three month online program among the offers tied to the trend.

Is a warm soak okay for everyone?

We're not doctors, so anyone who's pregnant, taking medication or managing a health condition should check with theirs before starting a new soaking routine.